Personal Review of "Steeler" (1984)
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Debut albums of mostly all hands sound quite raw and
the listener can easily define unexperienced musicians in terms of recording and equipment usage.
The situation with Steeler is much more the same. Their first album was produced by owner of their
label which meant avarage production. BUT it was engineered by ledendary Mekong Delta mastermind
Ralf Hubert (aka Bjorn Eklund) who did extremely perfect job. The quality is ten times higher than
that of major metal masters.
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The album opens with thunderous and rageous
"Chains Are Broken" which tears the listener's ears into pieces and gives a major
kick in the ass. The next tune "Gonna Find Some Place In Hell" exposes black metal
themes in early STEELER songs but provides lots of positive energy. The title "Heavy
Metal Century" gives perfect understanding what the band is all about and what it stands
for. "Sent From The Evil" and next "Long Way" are average mid-tempo tracks
that finalize the A-side of the album.
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The B-side opens with legendary "Call Her
Princess" which was heavily rotated on radio and is still played by Axel at all shows. The narration of rocking German metal girl dressed in black leather demonstrates
teenage dreams of talanted STEELERs. Mighty and unbelievably fast "Love For Sale" is
definitely the best and very melodic tune of the album. "Hydrophobia" which
used to be bassist Krawczak's favorite song on the debut really gives the listener the idea of
being afraid of water and swimming. That was one of the most memorable moments in STEELER's
career that its musicians managed to express their thoughts in music and lyrics and produce
major influence on their audience. The final "Fallen Angel" is a pure ballad with
dark love lyrics and mighty solo in the end.
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Summary: Buy or die! This is a must-have for
any metal fan!
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